Credit: Netflix

Until a few months ago, Office Romance was just another Netflix release on the horizon. But now? It has become one of the platform’s biggest talking points. Whether audiences are discussing the workplace romance between Jackie Cruz and Daniel Blanchflower or the chemistry between Lopez and Brett Goldstein, there is one question that’s coming up more frequently than it should: Was this part actually written for Jennifer Lopez?

As it turns out, the answer is yes. What’s interesting is that this wasn’t a situation where Lopez was one of several actresses being considered for the role. According to Goldstein, who co-wrote the film with his Ted Lasso collaborator Joe Kelly, the character was created with Lopez in mind from the very beginning.

The idea reportedly emerged while the pair were travelling between Manchester and London during the production of Ted Lasso. As fans of classic romantic comedies, they found themselves discussing the genre and the kinds of stories they wanted to see more often. Eventually, the conversation turned to a simple question: if they could write a romantic comedy for anyone, who would it be?

The answer came quickly. “Without hesitation, we were both like, ‘JLo, because she’s the best rom-com actor,'” Goldstein recalled. Rather than treating the idea as wishful thinking, the duo decided to build an entire story around it. That story eventually became Office Romance, which follows Jackie Cruz, the successful CEO of AirCruz, and Daniel Blanchflower, a company lawyer brought in to help the airline navigate a legal challenge. While the film delivers plenty of romantic-comedy staples, it also gives Lopez a character who differs from many of the roles she has played in the past.

In fact, that was one of the aspects that appealed most to the actress herself. Jackie is not an aspiring entrepreneur, an employee trying to prove herself, or someone waiting for life to begin. She is already at the top. She built the company. She runs the company. And she is perfectly capable of handling her own problems. Speaking about the role, Lopez noted that Office Romance marked the first time she had played the boss in a romantic comedy. It was a chance to explore a different dynamic from the ones audiences have often associated with her screen persona.

The most remarkable part of the story, however, is that Goldstein never expected Lopez to actually sign on. By his own admission, he and Kelly had never met her when they wrote the screenplay. Despite that, they sent her the script along with a note that left very little room for ambiguity. “We wrote this for you. You’re at the top of our list. It’s a list of one,” the note read. Goldstein later joked that if Lopez had passed on the project, they probably wouldn’t have made the movie at all.

Fortunately for them, Lopez was already familiar with Goldstein’s work. JLo revealed that she was a fan of Ted Lasso and, in particular, Goldstein’s performance as Roy Kent. When the script arrived, she immediately connected with both the story and the opportunity to play a character unlike any she had tackled before.

Looking back, it’s difficult to separate Office Romance from Lopez because the film was never designed to be separated from her. From its earliest conversations to its finished screenplay, the project was built around a single idea: Jennifer Lopez as Jackie Cruz. Everything else came later.